38 | International News ANALYSIS | We cannot be forced into a deadline yet the elements of the conflict are intact — Machar ally Kiir, Machar unite in rejecting US call for speedy peace deal, sanctions Warring factions, in a rare show of unity, ask Obama and Igad to allow them more time to talk, agree BY AGGREY MUTAMBO amutambo@ke.nationmedia.com W arring parties to the South Sudan conflict are protesting sanction threats, just a week after US President Barack Obama rallied the region to pressure leaders of the world’s youngest nation into a peace deal. Both the government under Salva Kiir and the rebels under former Vice President Riek Machar have opposed imposition of sanctions and deadlines in what could complicate search for peaceful solution. “Peace making is a process, it is not about deadlines. We will continue to negotiate with the rebels until we arrive at the credible peace that satisfies all,” Mr James P Morgan, South Sudan Deputy Head of Mission in Nairobi told the Sunday Nation on Friday. “Quick-fixed solutions (sic) are the recipe of prolonging the suffering of our people. In fact, bad peace is worse than the war itself,” he argued. On his tour of East Africa last week, President Obama, who also addressed the African Union in Addis Ababa, said there “is no time left”, and that the warring parties have to agree to a peace deal. Mr Obama gathered leaders or their representatives from member states of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad), a regional body that has been midwifing South Sudan peace talks since January 2014. It has recently suggested a final agreement by August 17. “That is not how peace is negotiated. We cannot be forced into a deadline yet the elements of the conflict are still intact. This means there will be a recipe for another war. This has been the situation in South Sudan,” Prof Peter Adwok, former South Sudan Education minister and who now supports Riek Machar, said on Thursday. A senior White House Official had indicated to journalists that sanctions would be imposed if the sides fail to agree this time. “We have supported a UN Security Council resolution that explicitly threatened an arms embargo and we think it is, in the failure of this last effort, one of the options that’s right on the table,” the official told reporters during a session whose rules demanded anonymity. South Sudan, which descended into PHOTO | AFP President Salva Kiir (left) exchanges signed documents with rebel leader Riek Machar in Arusha on January 21, 2015, as Tanzania’s President Jakaya Kikwete (centre) looks on. They have rejected US calls for sanctions to force them into a peace deal. chaos in December 2013, has had a recent eruption of violence between rebels and government forces in northern states where oil fields are concentrated. Despite seven ceasefire agreements being reached before, the parties have often violated them within days. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) says more than 50,000 have been killed and about two million displaced by the fighting and are in need of about $250 (Sh25 billion) million worth of humanitarian assistance. ment expert and lecturer at the Centre for Public Policy and Competitiveness, Strathmore Business School, told the Sunday Nation. “For sanctions, it is necessary to know what type to apply or even who to target. Blanket sanctions may be ignored or they may end up hurting those who are not part of the conflict. They have to be designed very carefully.” Last year, human rights organisa- tions called for an arms embargo, but the US argues an embargo may not affect both sides since some Igad members have already taken sides. Cord Co-Principal Kalonzo Musyoka, Quick-fixed solutions (sic) are the recipe of prolonging the suffering of our people” Mr James P Morgan, South Sudan Deputy Head of Mission in Nairobi. Despite previous threats for sanc- tions, experts warn such may not lead to the parties agreeing to a long-term peace deal. “It is important to have deadlines in any peace talks because you cannot have these talks forever. But these deadlines can be problematic because they can push parties into artificial agreements on important issues,” Dr Ochieng Kamudhayi, a conflict manage- who once took part in mediations to create South Sudan from Sudan during the Moi regime, also warned that sanctions could worsen the conflict. “Sanctions never work. They never worked in Cuba. The best thing for the people of South Sudan is to engage” he said. “They will have to find a solution, but not through sanctions.” In Addis, President Obama met with leaders from Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia as well as representatives from Sudan. South Sudan warring parties were not invited but the idea was to get a common ground for the region to push warring parties to agree to a peace deal by mid-August. “I think at this point our view is that both parties are part of the problem and this is not an opportunity for them to have a bunch of air time. They’ve had many, many opportunities with the regional leaders,” the White House official added in a session with journalists aboard Air Force One. “I think the point is to underscore that there’s unity around the Igad effort and that there will be unity in the aftermath, and that if these guys aren’t with the programme, they’re going to face sustained and concerted pressure.” Last week, Igad published Proposed Compromise Agreement, which it argued had been endorsed by both the AU and the international community for South Sudan to have a 30-month transition government, before elections are held. Among other proposals is the sug- gestion that Kiir’s government retain 53 per cent of the posts, rebels take 33 per cent, former detainees seven per cent and other political parties take seven per cent. Igad had proposed August 17 as the day the parties should sign on it but Juba immediately protested being excluded from the Obama meeting and a proposal that rebels take more than half of posts in the Greater Upper Nile region. “That proposal is unacceptable be- cause the people of the Greater Upper Nile will be sacrificed and handed over to the rebels. Those people are likely to rebel against that. “These people love peace and Riek Machar only controls just two or three counties out of the 57. It is like Igad is dividing our country by handing over some parts to the rebels,” Mr Morgan added. Zimbabwe asks US to extradite killer of ‘Cecil’ the lion Harare, Saturday Zimbabwe on Friday called for the extradition of Walter Palmer, as AFP learnt that the Minnesota dentist and trophy hunter had posed for a photograph next to the body of Cecil the lion. Palmer paid $55,000 for the hunt earlier this month in which he shot the lion with a powerful bow and arrow outside Hwange national park in western Zimbabwe. Cecil, who had a distinctive black mane, was a popular tourist draw at the park and was wearing a tracking collar as part of an Oxford University research project. As worldwide outrage over the shooting swelled, French actress and animal activist Brigitte Bardot described Palmer as a “serial killer” who deserved “exemplary punishment”. Palmer has apologised Palmer, who is being inves- tigated by the US government over Cecil’s death, has apologised and said he was misled by professional guide Theo Bronkhorst. “We are appealing to the responsible authorities for (Palmer’s) extradition to Zimbabwe so that he can be made accountable for his illegal actions,” Environment Minister Oppah Muchinguri told reporters in Harare. “It was too late to appre- hend the foreign poacher as he had already absconded to his country of origin.” Bronkhorst, who organ- ised the expedition, was granted bail by the Hwange court Wednesday after being charged with “failing to prevent an illegal hunt”. “We shot an old male lion that I believed was past his breeding age,” Bronkhorst said in a telephone interview with AFP. “I don’t think that I’ve done anything wrong.” (AFP) SUNDAY NATION August 2, 2015 BRIEFLY KANO Boko Haram, suicide bomber execute 16 A female suicide bomber and Boko Haram gunmen killed 16 people in Nigeria as the commander of a new multinational force tasked with fighting the Islamists pledged on Friday to crush the insurgency “very soon”. MajorGeneral Iliya Abbah’s appointment in an Abuja ceremony as chief of the 8,700-strong force came as a woman bomber on a tricycle killed six people in Maiduguri. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said the new task force would “lead to the speedy defeat and elimination of Boko Haram.” (AFP) BENGHAZI IS-allied group kills five Libyan troops Five Libyan troops loyal to the internationally recognised government were killed Friday and another 18 are missing after an attack on an eastern checkpoint allegedly carried out by the Islamic State group, a state news agency said. A military source told the LANA agency, loyal to the recognised government, that the attack was carried out by the Libyan branch of the IS on Friday. He added the attack was against a checkpoint “located on the desert road between the two cities of Ajdabiya and Tobruk”. (AFP) N’DJAMENA MPs reinstate death penalty for terrorism MPs in Chad have voted to reinstate the death penalty for acts of terrorism six months after it was abolished. The unanimous vote by 146 of the 189 MPs present followed recent attacks by Boko Haram Islamist militants from neighbouring Nigeria. Officials in the mainly Muslim nation have already banned the full Islamic veil in response to suicide bombings. Opposition and civil liberties groups have criticised the new anti-terror law passed on Thursday , saying it could be used to curb civil rights. (BBC) BAMAKO ‘Religious sign’ pulls big crowds in Mali Thousands of people in Mali’s capital are flocking to see what it believed to a religious sign on a wall that suddenly appeared last weekend. Many believe the white image on the outside wall of a toilet shows a man praying, interpreting it as a message from God. Riot police have been deployed to keep an eye on the crowd as people queue day and night to see the mark. Most southern Malians are Tijani Muslims, a moderate sect of Sufi Islam. ‘’We believe it is a vision of our prophet,’’ said Mr Aliou Traore. (BBC)